July 3, 2006

A big upset in the first round:the "3 Philippes" - Quintais, Suchaud and Pécoul - who won as a team in 2004 and 2005 got kicked out in the first round by a team called "Battu" - which happens to means "defeated" in French.This just a week after Philippe Quintais won the National French Title in Limoges.There goes their dream to equal Foyot, Melis & Authieu who did 3 in a row in '74, 75 & 76.

This is one of the nice aspects of La Marseillaise. Anybody - "Monsieur Tout-le-Monde" as they say in French - can join in for a nominal amount, play against one of the campions and, as in this case, beat them.The draw is 100 % random. When you sign up you get a team number. The day of the tournament you buy the paper and look up against whom and where you start. Then you look at the map and for the shuttle buses.

The event started off with a bang on Saturday night to celebrate this 45th edition: a huge gala evening at Chateau Ricard attended by hundreds of celebrities and business icons.Of course the evening program was altered so everyone could first watch the Brazil-France World Cup game on two giant screens.Following the 1 to 0 French victory the party really took off with an impressive musical show and people dancing till the wee hours.

The foreign nations represented:Algeria, Armenia, Belgium, Canada, China, Comores, Egypt, Germany, Guinea, Italy, Madagascar, Morocco, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tunisia, Ukraine.I would have loved to see team # 979 from the USA but they played their first round at Stade Roger Lebert, just while we were at Parc Borély.

We ran into the Taiwan team at lunch time. In great spirits notwithstanding their loss in the first round.They certainly deserved a prize for their original hats!